Dialogue 1
Jingjing: Mark, did you hear about the fire in Paris?
京晶：马克，听说巴黎那场火灾了吗？
Mark: I saw some posts about it, but I haven't read any actual news articles yet. What happened?
马克：我看见了一些社交媒体的发布，但还没看任何新闻，发生了什么？
Jingjing: Well, Notre Dame, the cathedral nearly burned to the ground.
京晶：哎，巴黎圣母院啊，差点烧毁了。
Mark: That's terrible! Does anyone know what started it?
马克：太可怕了！有人知道是怎么着火的吗？
Jingjing: Apparently, it was an accident. There's nothing to suggest arson.
京晶：很明显，是场意外事故。没有任何纵火的迹象。
Mark: That's a relief, at least. Wait, isn't Notre Dame made of stone?
马克：这倒是让人松了口气。等等，难道圣母院不是石制建筑吗？
Jingjing: Yes, but the inside is all wood. Once that got going, it took some of the structure with it.
京晶：是的，但内部都是木头啊。火一旦烧起来，肯定要连带烧到里面的结构。
Mark: I saw the video of the spire falling. That's hard to un-see.
马克：我看了尖顶倒塌的视频，真是可怕又令人难忘的景象。
Jingjing: Yeah, it's really tragic! It was already a $170 million restoration project—and that was before the fire.
京晶：是的，非常悲剧了。这已经是个花费了一亿七千万美元的重建工程，当然是在火灾发生前。
Mark: What's it going to cost now? Any idea?
马克：那现在呢？还要花费多少？有想法吗？
Jingjing: I read that it would cost $339 million now. But experts are still assessing the damage. A project like this will take 10 years or so.
京晶：我了解到现在要花费三亿三千九百万美元。但专家们还在继续评估损失，一个这样的工程得花十年左右。
Mark: It must be painstaking work.
马克：那一定是个十分艰苦的工作。
Jingjing: To say the least. It took 100 years to build Notre Dame. With today's technology, it still can't be rushed.
京晶：那还是低估了，建造巴黎圣母院花了一百多年，就算用如今的工业技术，也是不能一蹴而就的。
Mark: Who's going to pay for all that work?
马克：谁来出这笔修缮费啊？
Jingjing: UNESCO is raising money already. A few French billionaires have already made large donations.
京晶：联合国教科文组织已经在筹款了。还有一些法国的亿万富翁们也已经捐了不菲的款项。
Mark: Really? Any names I would know?
马克：是吗？都有哪些人？
Jingjing: Francois-Henri Pinault: he pledged to give 100 million Euros immediately. Also, Bernard Arnault is giving 200 million Euros.
京晶：Francois-Henri Pinault 承诺立即出1亿欧元。还有Bernard Arnault 要给2亿欧元。


New words : 习语短语
arson 纵火
starting a big fire on purpose
spire 尖顶
a thin pointed tower on top of a castle or a cathedral
hard to un-see 可怕且难忘的景象
a terrible image (like the sinking Titanic)
assess 评估
expert opinion on how much something will cost
painstaking (adj.) 困难的，艰苦的
difficult, must be carefully done

Dialogue 2
Jingjing: My WeChat moments are full of posts about Notre Dame.
京晶：我朋友圈里全是巴黎圣母院的消息。
Mark: Mine too. A lot of people have found their photos of when they visited the cathedral—however many years ago—and are posting those.
马克：我的也是。很多人都找出了他们曾经去这座教堂的照片，不管多久前的，都发上来了。
Jingjing: I could probably do the same. I know where I've saved those pictures. It's just so sad though.
京晶：我也可以做同样的事。我知道我在哪里保存了那些照片，只是再看见它们时挺难过的。
Mark: Jingjing, I didn't know you went to Paris!
马克：京晶，我不知道你去过巴黎呢！
Jingjing: Yeah, I went there in 2011. I went inside Notre Dame and everything.
京晶：是啊，我2011年去过。我进去了巴黎圣母院，然后里面都逛了。
Mark: I hear it's really breathtaking.
马克：我听说这建筑很震撼啊。
Jingjing: It definitely is. The cathedral sits on a small island in the middle of the Seine. That accentuates its size.
京晶：确实是。大教堂坐落在塞纳河中的一座小岛上。这更凸显了它形态的独特之美。
Mark: How big is Notre Dame?
马克：巴黎圣母院有多大？
Jingjing: It's 48 meters wide and 128 meters long. With the spire, it stood at a height of 35 meters.
京晶：48米宽，128米长。算上尖顶，有35米高。
Mark: That's pretty impressive. It was built nearly a thousand years ago, wasn't it?
马克：很令人敬畏的。它是在近一千年前修建的吧，不是吗？
Jingjing: Right. Construction began in the year 1163.
京晶：是的，建设从1163年就开始了。
Mark: Wow. I hope the restoration goes smoothly. It's really important to keep those world heritage sites in good condition. Thousands of young people every year get inspired to become architects at places like Notre Dame.
马克：哇哦。我希望整修一切顺利。让这些世界文化遗址保存完好是非常重要的。在巴黎圣母院这样的地方，每年有数以千计的年轻人在此受到激励想成为建筑师。
Jingjing: Well, 400 firefighters came to the rescue. And it's a good thing, too, because the edifice was saved.
京晶：还有，400多名消防员参与了营救工作，这也是一件好事，因为主体建筑部分给救下来了。
Mark: Let's keep Notre Dame in our hearts and hope it can be restored.
马克：让我们将圣母院常记于心，祝福它早日重建成功。

New words : 习语短语
breathtaking 了不起的，震撼的
amazing, beautiful, awesome
accentuate 让某物凸显得更加美丽
make something look larger or more beautiful
world heritage site 世界文化遗址
one of 1092 landmarks selected by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
edifice 大厦，建筑的主体部分
the face of a building